Glad that's not MY Prius ...

Who actually needs an extra seat... blood or not...hmmmmm?

Bob Andersen

 

First, I don't think there was blood on the seats; both passengers walked away from the accident. Secondly, I have no clue who would buy a seat, but interestingly enough someone bought the left seat as of today or yesterday...if you've always had a special place for a right seat in your heart, one is still available....

 

the "splatter" looks like paw prints. Could be cats or dogs that walked over the seats while the car was still outside with the seats.

 

Or a rescue tech's boot print mebbe?

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Here in Southern Finland, the winter temperature seldom drops below -20C. I guess my Prius oil is OK

I am still wondering why you (in North America) don't change the oil at 2000 miles (3000 kms).

 

Wow, only -20 C! You're downright balmy compared to Winnipeg Manitoba! We had almost a month in January with the lows at -40 C and the highs barely at -25 C. A few mornings went down to -42 C.

The only large-scale user of 5W-40 synthetic oils in North America are road transport trucks with a variety of Cummins, Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, Volvo, and Mercedes heavy duty diesel motors. Those manufacturers typically recommend a low temperature cutoff of -30 C with a 5W-40, much preferring a synthetic heavy duty 0W-40 or 0W-30 in those sort of cold temperatures.

Of course, if you run a heavy duty 15W-40, the cutoff is around -12 to -18 C.

I was told by my dealer to run the factory oil to the usual recommended 6 months/8,000 km. The reason(s) quoted: to ensure proper break-in of the rings, to provide maximum fuel economy, and to ensure low oil consumption.

Also, at least in Canada, the dealer will tell you in no uncertain terms to NOT run a synthetic motor oil until the motor has at least 10,000 km on it, minimum. They prefer you wait until 16,000 km. That is plausible, as a coworker with a new Nissan Murano V6 was told to wait until at least 20,000 km before running synthetic motor oil.

I did notice that, even with our nasty -40 weather, the fuel economy slowly improved past 6,000 km, and seemed to get much better at 8,000 km and my first oil change. The oil level went down maybe 3mm on the stick before the initial change.

The weather also warmed up too. With 16,000 km, my Prius is still slowly getting better fuel economy, so the break-in story is plausible. Also, the oil level has not gone down by any noticeable amount. So the oil consumption control story is also plausible.

We've also been told that Prius owners in the UK are supposed to wait until their normally scheduled interval of 12 months or 16,000km. Is the 3,000km initial oil change specific to Finland and/or the Scandinavian countries?

 

I did ask. The 3000 km service is not mandotary. But Toyota said that they recommend it. I think this holds for all Scandinavian country.

 

For reasons I do not know, many car manufacturers here in North America now recommend changing the oil every 5000 miles. The standard used to be 3,000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first. I have always done mine at 3,000 & will continue to do so.

 

The interval changed because modern oils have better additives and last longer. Numerous studies have shown the oil to be good past 3,000 miles, including a large one done by Consumer Reports on NYC Taxis (serve service). Changing sooner costs more with no benefit, and creates more hazardous waste. 3/3,000 has been around so long it's hard to change the mindset, there's also considerable debate exactly how long oil lasts, especially synthetics.

You can rest assured 6/5,000 is a very conservative interval, especially for an engine that runs part time like the Prius.

 

Well put, gschoen. IMHO. Syn Vs. dino; In all my years of driving these dino-burning horseless carriages, I've yet to personally experience a lube-base failure of any kind in an engine component. That ain't to say it can't happen, but I just can't justify using $yns. Yet. They (dinos) can be recycled and must be in most states. MPG? Probably better w/ syns. Not enough data points in the real world (wherever that may be). Yet.

If you want to change/modify your schedule, go for it, I say. The more data points we have, the better. I just think that dino-juice on schedule for our "carriages" is just fine and probably better than needed.

What do the syns get re-cycled into anyway? (seriously. I don't know)

Now, where did I put my "Bronto-Tofu- Burger?

..cheers..

 

Thanks, gschoen. I had not thought about the fact that the Prius engine runs much less than a traditional one. That does make a good point for less frequent oil changes. You also mentioned a Consumer Reports study. Do you know if & where I can find that online?